Still Catching Up with Alice

 Here is my latest block finish for the Alice SAL. This is "Painting the Roses"

The back stitch on this one was insane!

Next up "The Duchess"

Alice Update

This month's character in the Alice SAL was the Mad Hatter.

I also made this mixed media picture of a sardine tin this week, following a tutorial on the Seasalt website.

In un-related news I planted a Kiwi plant in the garden when Naomi was very small (they were her favourite fruit). It has grown like a triffid ever since without so much as hinting at a kiwi, but today, after 18 years it has flowered!

And in case you were wondering, here is this months not-so-uplifting sentiment from the calendar the girls made me

Alice Update

Running a little late on this month's installment for the Alice SAL, but I got it finished before the next one came out so I'm calling that a win!
Here are the Tweedles

Next month is The Mad Hatter, really looking forward to that one.
A gratuitous picture of Loki, because the way he was lying made me laugh so hard

And here, for those of you who have been looking forward to it, is the May page from the "inspirational" calendar the girls made for me!

Slightly Late ISHW Post

Still trying to keep up with my Alice SAL. This is where I've got to now:-

Really enjoyed this month's block. I wonder who we'll get next month, I'd rather like to see the caterpillar.

March Already? Late February IHSW

I did actually stitch it in February, I just didn't get round to blogging it. Here is the current progress on Cross Stitcher Magazine's Alice SAL

I've also been doing a Scrap-busting challenge with Sugar Bowl Crafts, I'm hopelessly behind on it, but here are the first four squares laid out together.

And Finally, the March page in the subversive calendar the girl's made for me

The caption reads "The best things in life are actually very expensive - you know like truffle oil ... or cocaine

Let The People Choose - Penguins

Let The People Choose is a SAL organised by Jo of Serendipitous Stitching, with a different theme each month. This month it's penguins! It can't have escaped your notice that I am fond of penguins. I have a lot of penguin related crafting to show.
Here we go:-

This New Year Penguin is a free design from Aliolka

I made this cuddly felt penguin from a kit from House of Zandra

Here is a silk scarf I block printed

and a little knitted penguin - pattern in 20 to Knit - Tiny Christmas Toys

bought the whole book for that pattern

A penguin Christmas Ornament (design by Cthulu Crochet)

A penguin in a Jayne Cobb hat!

Penguin walks down the street in that hat, you know he's not afraid of anything.

and this is a mixed stitch penguin sampler I designed for Stitch Magazine, many years ago.

And finally, not penguin related, but here is the February page from the subversive calendar the girls designed for me

IHSW January

I'm going to try and do an IHSW post every month this year. Try. No promises, especially in the summer when I work pretty much all weekends. The reason I want to try and keep up with it is to keep me motivated with the "Alice" SAL being run in CrossStitcher Magazine.
The first installment was the individual motif frames and the border. The rest of the year will be a motif a month to drop into them.
Already behind as I've only done about a quarter of the frames/border motifs and the next magazine arrived today, but here is my progress so far.

Wish me luck!

First Finish of 2020

My Temperature SAL

Design by Hetti of Stitches in Blue

Stitched on Crafty Kitten 32 count Oatmeal Murano

using DMC and Finca variegated threads

Hallowe'en Exchange, Challenge and Temperature SAL Catch Up

You know what it's like. You wait all month for a bloggable stitch, and then three come along at once!
The exchange first. This was the Hallowe'en Exchange on Needlecraft Haven. We had to send a stitched ornament, a trick and a treat.
Here is the lovely gift I received from Mary.

Thankyou Mary, they are all wonderful. I shall be displaying my "Christine's Potions" ornament all year round.
And here is what I sent to Justine.

The ornament is a design from Aliolka , The treat is a Lush Bath Bomb, and the trick is a mint tin filled with creepy crawlies.
The Alioka designs were the chosen designs for the Seasonal Challenge on Needlecraft Haven, so that finish killed two birds with one stone, but I decided to stitch another of the designs as a gift for Eloise

So then, of course, I had to stitch one for Naomi as well, only all the Aliolka designs had that cute little spider, and Naomi does not do spiders. Not even very cute ones, so I combined Aliolka's skull motif with a kitty from a Barbara Ana design and stitched her this one (which you've already seen if you saw the Hallowe'en Blog Hop post)

And finally here is an up to date picture of my Temperature SAL

A Quick Update on the Temperature SAL

Spent this morning getting caught up on the Temperature SAL

Don't all those lovely warm colours around the outside make a difference to how it's lookin
In unrelated news I've had the chalk pastels out - here are some bubbles I drew, not quite sure I got them right, but it was fun playing with all those colours

Two Bees or Not Two Bees

I completely fell in love with this wonderful golden bee printed jersey from Stitch Fabrics, and I was in such a hurry to buy it that I misread the units of sale and thought I was buying it by the half metre, when actually it was by the full metre, so naturally I ended up with twice as much as I needed.
Well there's only one thing to do when that happens - make two somethings!
First is a Tilly and the Buttons Agnes top for me.

And second a racer back tank top for Eloise (pattern is Simplicity 8338)

And just in case you thought I'd abandoned it, here is my up to date temperature SAL, look at all those lovely reds and ornages!

Gifted Gorgeousness - May

OK, who stole the first half of May? I'm sure it was there a minute ago. So it would seem it's time for Gifted Gorgeousness again, the time when we show off our gift related crafting. For a full description of how it all works, and to join in the fun, see Jo's blog here
So this month I have a few things to show.
You might remember that last year I made Naomi a skirt using a Botticelli print in a very fine semi-sheer cotton lawn, well she decided she'd like a sheath type dress in the same fabric to wear over a little black bodycon dress, so here is the Primavera Dress.

Front

Botticelli panels from Stitch Fabrics, pattern Simplicity 8293, adapted to omit the centre back seam, and bind the neck with a satin bias instead of using a facing which would have shown through.

Back

Next we have an organiser bucket bag I made for a friend of mine for her birthday

The girls are doing a grand tour of Europe (well bits of it anyway) in the summer so I'm making them a sundress each. This is the first one, in the fabric Naomi picked. Eloise's isn't finished yet so I'll show that next month.

Fabric is an Indian block-printed cotton, pattern is New Look 6491

As a bonus gift for me (shoehorn alert), Naomi decided she didn't care for the first fabric she chose once it had arrived - the perils of on-line shopping - so I made myself a top rather than wasting it

I think that's about it for this month. 

Better Late Than Never

My finish for the Winter Challenge at Needlecraft Haven that is. It should have been finished by the end of February.
We had a choice of a Christmas or a Non-Christmas design, and I went for the Non-Christmas one, a sweet little bullfinch from Aliolka (Chart here, there is also a Bluetit, which I might go back and do later)

I finished it off as a small pillow with a log cabin style mis-matched fabric border
At least I'm up to date on my Temperature SAL...

Signs of Spring

After last weeks snow we are starting to see some small signs of spring:-

Crocuses in the garden

Playing with my new toy at the beach

Some "green" days on the Temperature SAL

Snow and Stitching

Yes, we had snow. Not too exciting for some people, but it's quite unusual around here.

You can see the small patch of blue stitching showing the colder few days in my Temperature SAL

and if you look carefully you'll see that I indicated the snow by filling in the background of the relevant squares with white.

I've also stitched a Valentine's Exchange piece, which I can't show yet as it's a secret, and this little Year of the Pig ornament to add to Naomi's Chinese Zodiac collection.

He's stitched in GAST Schoolhouse Red on Crafty Kitten Just Peachy. I couldn't find a chart I liked so I charted him myself. I drew the Chinese character by looking at various New Year greetings online, I hope it does indeed say "Pig", and not one of the more colourful Chinese expressions from Firefly.

Temperature SAL

In 2018 Hetti of Stitches in Blue designed a Temperature SAL, where a small block is stitched every day of the year, the colour of which is determined by that day's temperature.  I discovered this when I saw the version that Jo stitched. I really enjoyed watching it grow over the year and loved how it turned out, so when Clare said she was going to do a 2019 version of the design and asked if anyone wanted to join her in a SAL I decided to have a go.
I'm stitching mine on Crafty Kitten 32 ct Oatmeal Murano, and using variegated threads (mostly DMC plus a couple of Fincas), and here is my progress.

Last Friday

This Friday

I'm really enjoying stitching this so far, though, as you can see, we haven't had much temperature variation here in Cornwall.

Gifted Gorgeousness in June

It's time for June's Gifted Gorgeousness, the brainchild of Jo from Serendipitous Stitching, where we show off anything we can remotely shoehorn into the category of a gift.
I'm kicking off this month with this stitched bracelet.

Double GG points for this one as it was a cover gift with Cross Stitcher magazine, and I've stitched it for Naomi.
I swapped out the slightly loud colours in the original kit for a cooler palette of blues and turquoises with white, and left a few rows blank as I liked the effect of the "leather" showing through.
Second up, is this handbag I made from a vintage souvenir scarf depicting scenes of  Rome.

I'ts got the Colosseum on the other side.
This is another double pointer. Again it's a gift for Naomi; who is going to be living in Italy next academic year as part of her degree, and consequently needs an Italian handbag; and the pattern to make it came from a book which I received as a gift from Julie a couple of years ago.
And finally, just so you don't think Eloise is being left out on the handcrafted gift front, here is my progress on a cardigan I'm knitting for her.

The pattern is "Mizzen" from Classic Elite Yarns. It's a raglan sleeved cardigan knitted in one piece from the top down, the line of lacy holes you can see is one of the raglans forming.

Gifted Gorgeousness 2017 - Washing Up and Sarcasm!

The first gifted Gorgeousness of 2017! Gifted Gorgeousness is the SAL organised by Jo of Serendipitous Stitching where once a month we show off anything craft and gift related (no matter how stretched and tenuous the link)
This month I've got two things to show. The first is something I made as a birthday present for my sister. (I made one each for me and the girls as well)
I scanned in one of the precious handwritten recipes I have from my Mum (complete with little smudge where it got wet and the ink ran), added a border, uploaded it to Spoonflower, and had it printed onto linen cotton canvas, then hemmed it up to make these tea towels.

There is a really good tutorial for sizing your scanned recipe properly on the Spoonflower Blog

The other gift is something I made for Eloise. I thought she could put it on her desk at work. I've seen a lot of designs quite like it around the interwebs but none of them were quite what I wanted so I ended up making my own version up. I finished it as a free-standing paperweight.

There is a tiny zip lock bag of yellow split peas inside to give it some weight, so if she gets really hungry at work it can always double as a convenient soup making resource.